Prices and sale volumes during the rural property spring selling season are unlikely to show growth but with more realistic vendors, increased buyer inquiry and fewer listings good auction results are expected.

Rural agents such as
Chris Meares
have started advising clients to obtain credible valuations before listing properties this spring.

“Those who don’t get the valuations beforehand are the ones who have problems determining a sensible market price or auction reserve, but those who do have a lot more success," Mr Meares said.

With firmer rationalisation in the market-place, a new balance between vendors, buyers and price is slowly being created.

“This rebalance is always the first part of a turnaround," Mr Meares said.

Meares and Associates will be launching its first 48-hour online auction this spring in a bid to give buyers more comfort and convenience when entering the market.

The 695-hectare property, Cooltah, outside Dubbo, will be the guinea pig for the online auction and it is expected the property could fetch $4.5 million.

Landmark Harcourt’s NSW ­manager
Phil Rourke
said listings for property auctions across the entire state were only 79 per cent of last year’s levels.

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Mortgagee properties

The lower number of listings is due in part to mortgagee in possession property still floating through the market, keeping vendors of the larger healthier properties away.

Mr Rourke has The Island at Condobolin which will be offered at auction next month. The 3529 hectares of freehold country with 6 kilometres of frontage to the Lachlan River is in the hands of one of the big four banks and could fetch as much as $4.5 million.

Not all of the state is experiencing a slump in listings.

Mr Rourke’s colleague in the Riverina food bowl district of Deniliquin, Landmark Harcourt’s James Sides, has a record 12 properties for auction within the next month.

“I think some people are taking advantage of what has been a very good season down here," Mr Sides said.

“With 12 auctions, that is about the most I have had in a decade for spring, however there are quite a few mortagee in possession properties in that bunch. I think the vendors are a little more motivated to sell. "

He has the 800-hectare Fairview, south of Deniliquin, up for sale. As it is a mortgagee in possession sale, the mixed farming property has attracted plenty of interest. While the smaller rural properties are likely to see plenty of auction results, the big test will be for the larger-scale trophy farms, such the 4000-hectare Collaroy Station at Merriwa in the Hunter Valley marketed by Landmark Harcourts.

The property, suited to cropping, pasture improvement and grazing of sheep or cattle could fetch as much $12 million.

Cropping farm on offer

In Victoria, where dairy sales have dominated the talk, Elders Shane ­McIntyre is marketing one of the few large cropping properties on the market – the 2430-hectare Blackwood in the state’s western districts.

Market observers expect well over $10 million for the property, which ­features a six-bedroom, bluestone homestead and cottages.

“Larger, good quality rural assets offered for sale in Eastern Australia this spring are reasonably thin, and . . . this may result in a fundamental shift in values upwards during the coming months," Mr Triggs said. An Australian division of one of the largest institutional managers of agricultural real estate in the US, Hancock Farm Company, is selling its Dunoon Macadamia Plantations estate at Lismore, NSW.

The farm and a major shareholding in Suncoast Gold facility could sell for as much as $25 million. The farm has 109,000 mature trees, and covers 545 hectares.

Such large institutional-grade ­holdings will be the focus of offshore investors.

Richie Thornton, president of L J Hooker’s Australian Rural Chapter, said an Asian buyer had a standing order for a $200 million opportunity with the firm, preferably near rail infrastructure.

He said it would be something the size of the 96,000-hectare Cubbie Station in south-west Queensland, which sold to Chinese consortium last year.

“Asia sees Australia as future [food] bowl," he said. “It’s got to be farming, as opposed to grazing."

Mr Thornton said the two dominating buyer groups were corporates who had the income to ride out the downside and then benefit from the upside and existing farmers buying up neighbouring properties.